As some of you know, I have a build thread circulating, but I wanted to take a moment to reach out and let members know of a new system that hasn't seen the light of day until I became the first member forum, or no forum, to get this system installed. iPE Innotech. The Taiwanese company is synonymous to exotics. Their systems have been on Lambos, Ferraris, McLarens, and now a MINI.

I was intrigued with the system because of its valvetronic capabilities and also the simple fact that no one has ever heard it in person, not even any sound clips anywhere! I try to be different and think outside the box and I'm not afraid to spend on quality parts, so when I spoke to iPE, the conversation led me to Lance and Vince @ GT Auto Concepts. These guys are great. They are also known as DuelL AG North America and having seen their DuelL AG MINI in person, I was impressed with DuelL's quality and the shops interest in the Asian market for Euro cars.

Drove up to SF from LA on Wednesday morning at around 2:30am and came home the same night at midnight. It was a long tiring day/drive, but The guys there took care of me, they were equally impressed with the quality of the system and the intoxicating sound that it bellows in it's On and Off modes.

The system comes with 2 remotes. Each remote has an ON, OFF, and AUTO mode. While in On mode, the system is brutal. It sounds amazing! I had Akrapovic before, and this just blows it out of the waters. It's not obnoxious which was something I was afraid of since I've never seen or heard the system, but when it was first tired up and rev'd, I knew I hit the jackpot, this was IT. The system to beat.

In OFF mode, the system is subtle, your wife/gf/significant other will love you, she will compliement the smart choice of having it off for her while you're driving her around town, but the MINI she's gone, ON it goes and you're wailing along in the city with everyone looking at you. It's so smooth that you want to rev the crap out of it and with the bit of low end torque lost, what you gain up top from the catless downpipe, is a dream.

In AUTO mode, Vince set the system to activate from OFF to ON at 4000 RPM. So when it reaches 4K, it immediately opens the valves and the deep note from the system can be heard. It's such a smooth transition and you'll notice the visceral sound different and power immediately.

Easily one of the most expensive systems out there. It will make you turn 180 quickly, but it will reward you if you don't. Keep in mind, like any downpipe for the R5x generation, a O2 sensor CEL will come up. It happened to me 150miles into the drive back down to LA. An easy fix to this would be either running an AP if you have the tune, or getting the BMS CAN Tool which can deactivate the light.

I'm the first in the US with this system, and I hope I'm not the last. If you guys need a reference before you speak to Lance or Vince at GT Auto Concept just let me know and I can have them contact you.

It's pricey. I like to say "Akrapovic+ range". So Akra's full turboback system is $2550 or so, so that's your ballpark price range. I've received many PM's asking for the price and that they're interested only to go dead quiet after knowing the price.

I'm not gonna lie, it's expensive for a MINI system, but many don't realize for the Japanese, Asian market in general, the prices they see are small compared to how much these MINIs actually cost. So for us, our $25k MINI is little compared to the $70-120k they'd have to pay for a MINI because of the huge mark-up in import taxes. So for them to spend $3-4k on an exhaust is nothing. Whereas when we see $3k for an exhaust on a '08-'09 which can be had for $15-18k, we instantly think "that's stupid, I'm not paying for an exhaust which is 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, or 1/6th of the price of my MINI".

It's all relative and in the end, it's "pay to play" kinda mentality that I carry. I enjoy modding and price on things don't necessary blow me away when you associate quality to an item.

Damn I rambled off quite a bit here. Anyways, this exhaust system has gotten a bit louder and tunnel passes are badass...

I just purchased my first MINI and I'm looking forward to doing some mods. What wheel and tire sizes are you running and can you post a side pic to show them? They look like they could be 215's. Thanks! and thank you for the Innotech info. Sounds great.

Well. Yes you are right that the tires are 215 but since that photo I've gone thru 2 sets of wheels. Now with current setup I have a set of 17s and a set of 18s. PM me if you need some info but I don't check things on M|U very often anymore. You'll find me more on NAM